Do you think coin graders get awestruck?

These professional coin graders have seen thousands upon thousands of coins. Do you think at some point they become immune to the rarity or significance of a valuable coin? I imagine the same may be possible with big time dealers that have been around for a long time. Afterall, the objects they are grading are all fundamentally the same in that they are shaped and pressed chunks of metal (when removing all subjectivity and history of the coins).

 

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If they do, let's hope they never say 'Awesome' because this tedious cliche is to me at least a sign of brain death and time to turn of the life support.

 

Not when they spend all of 8 seconds authenticating and grading a coin.

I've often pondered the same question though in regards to Hugh Hefner.

 

And then the conveyor belt clogs.

 

I think it becomes just another object of their job. I work at a bank and may receive a bag with $250,000 in it at a time, and I count it and put it away. When you deal with it all day and you know it isn't yours, it's just an object you use as part of your job. You don't see it the same way as others. People ask me all the time what it's like to hold $100k cash in my hand at one time. I honestly don't even think about when it do it.

 

Listening to people like Mark Salzberg talk about things like the Newman or Partrick collections, you definitely get a sense that they love what they do, and appreciate seeing the rare, unusual, or really cool items.

If I had to sit and grade moderns and eagles all day, I'd probably blow my brains out from the boredom and tediousness.

 

I think that with common coins, they would get a little jaded, but when the exceptional coins cross their desks, I would think they'd get excited. We can all get jaded, but when it's your passion, the exceptional usually gets the blood moving.

 

They do, but, most likely they hold it in, so it looks like they've seen it all, as they pass the coin around to solidify their collective opinion, prior to the million dollar auction. They keep their cool because their competition might be watching.

Otherwise, you'd get comments like, "See that guy from ANACS, probably first time seeing one of those." or "Look at the ICG guy, his jaw just dropped".

 

I don't think they do. And it's not because they have become immune from seeing so many great coins, but quite the opposite. You have no idea how many truly ugly and messed-up coins come through a grading room. Entire submissions of coins covered in PVC and otherwise ineligible for grading. For every seasoned numismatist that is sending in coins to the grading services, there are 100 novice submitters who are sending in crap that begs the question "why would anyone submit this junk?". And so when a truly spectacular coin crosses their desk, being true numismatists themselves, of course they are going to take pause to admire the truly sensational specimens that they handle. As for rarity or significance, most of these guys grading at the professional level are able to see past the "rarity or especially significance" of a coin to treat it as something that simply needs to be attributed, authenticated and finally graded. That's not to say there aren't some coins out there that receive preferential treatment based on their "significance". We all know about coins that start off in an XF40 holder and somehow ratchet up one grade with each successive appearance at auction until they are MS62. But that tends to be the exception rather than the rule.

 

That quarter though. What a beautiful piece even if it is super blast white.

I like the AU-55 showcased right beside it too.

Thanks for the link Mike.

 

Most dealers I know do not get excited by things the mass market does. Items like MS67 morgans, or high grade ancients that are common. Usually what excites them are most esoteric items of real historical importance or rarity, but 99% of collectors do not even know exist or what its importance is.

 

Agree. When an AU53 Kellog & Company $20 arrived at the local coin dealer recently, it generated far more excitement than the 1916 Standing Liberty quarter in MS64 that arrived the week before.

 

A family friend of mine recently moved back here from Houston after working for Heritage for a few years. He handled some of the most prestigious coins in existence. He says, and I quote, "it never got old" and frequently speaks about some of the higher end coins he either assisted in selling or handled. Dream. Job.

 

I worked at 2 banks for 4-5 years and literally had the exact same thought process regarding large sums of money that weren't mine. I do remember the first time I went to fill a cash order, after we had recently received a large cash drop from Brinks, and was alone with around $500k+ in mixed bills in the vault. I juggled 3 blocks of $30k each while balancing $30k on my head for a total of $120k. I was 23 yrs old. Never had the urge to take anything, I knew there was no point. But the part about not getting excited about money that isn't your own - Dead On.

 

Same goes for fixating on profit in our hobby. I don't want to blow cash foolishly, but, future resale value does not factor into any of my purchases. For example, I stopped buying silver bullion rounds in 2010. Anything I got after that was a gift. My limit was $25 - $26/oz. including shipping. Most was swapped since, at higher spot values, for more historical coins and coins in slabs.

 

I work with old and valuable books and documents all the time. The first few $200,000 books are cool but they all run together. It's still fun to get a book from like the 1500's but it gets less and less exciting as you go.

 

I bet it goes like this...
"ms69 ase, ms70 ase, ms70 ase, UGH, ms69 ase, WAIT........ AU58 SEATED HALF?!?!?! FREAKIN' SWEET!"